The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to generating an output signal, and more particularly, to a signal generator using multi-sampling and edge combining and an associated signal generating method.
The performance of frequency synthesizers, such as phase-locked loops (PLLs), relies on a clean fixed reference frequency, which is usually derived from a crystal oscillator. Unfortunately, typical low-cost crystal oscillators are able to provide low-frequency oscillating signals only. In general, a higher reference frequency would result in better noise performance for frequency synthesizers. Therefore, it is desired to multiply the reference frequency and at the same time to preserve the clean crystal oscillator properties (e.g., good noise properties).